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Crosswalk for Norwalk Green tangled in red tape

Crosswalk for Norwalk Green tangled in red tape

1of4The intersection at East Avenue and St. Paul's Place Wednesday, July 3, 2019, in Norwalk, Conn. St. Paul's on the Green and the Norwalk Green Association are aiming to get a crosswalk across East Avenue at St. Paul's Place and Parkhill Avenue, but traffic could be a concern.Photo: Erik Trautmann / Hearst Connecticut Media

2of4The intersection at East Avenue and St. Paul's Place Wednesday, July 3, 2019, in Norwalk, Conn. St. Paul's on the Green and the Norwalk Green Association are aiming to get a crosswalk across East Avenue at St. Paul's Place and Parkhill Avenue, but traffic could be a concern.Photo: Erik Trautmann / Hearst Connecticut Media

3of4The intersection at East Avenue and St. Paul's Place Wednesday, July 3, 2019, in Norwalk, Conn. St. Paul's on the Green and the Norwalk Green Association are aiming to get a crosswalk across East Avenue at St. Paul's Place and Parkhill Avenue, but traffic could be a concern.Photo: Erik Trautmann / Hearst Connecticut Media

4of4The intersection at East Avenue and St. Paul's Place Wednesday, July 3, 2019, in Norwalk, Conn. St. Paul's on the Green and the Norwalk Green Association are aiming to get a crosswalk across East Avenue at St. Paul's Place and Parkhill Avenue, but traffic could be a concern.Photo: Erik Trautmann / Hearst Connecticut Media

NORWALK — Bob Giolitto noticed the problem over a year and a half ago. Many patrons to St. Paul’s on the Green, or the Norwalk Town Green itself, were attempting to cross East Avenue near Parkhill Avenue and St. Paul’s Place with no crosswalk or safe way to do so.

“This all started because we realized there was no pedestrian access to the Green,” said Giolitto, the head of social justice and outreach at the church.

“When we started looking we realized there were no crosswalks between the one down here and the light up here,” he said, pointing to the intersections of Wall Street and Route 1.

Giolitto and other members of the Norwalk Green Association thought that working to get a crosswalk between those intersections — almost 1,500 feet apart — would benefit the whole area.

“There are 1,000 full-time residents that live within five minutes walking distance of the Green,” said Bradford Craighead, chair of the association. “There are God only knows how many parishioners here (at St. Paul’s), at the First Congregational Church, the commercial tenants ... there are a lot of businesses here, there’s a lot of people that come and go.”

Craighead said that while a crosswalk would benefit St. Paul’s, it would also facilitate safety in the area.

But now more than 18 months after the issue was first raised, there’s been some discussion around the potential crosswalk, but no action.

“I don’t want to say that this is a symptom of the problem, but this should be an easy fix,” Craighead said. “I think that’s what’s so frustrating to Bob and I and Audrey (Cozzarin) and others that are involved in this whole process.”

City officials, however, said that there are many other factors that go into approving a crosswalk, including trying to make sure the people who use it are safe.

“We have to comply with state traffic safety laws,” Director of Transportation, Parking and Mobility Kathy Hebert said. “We also want to make sure that any crosswalk we put that people that are crossing at the crosswalk are safe.”

Giolitto and Craighead first raised the issue publicly at a Traffic Authority meeting in February 2018. Craighead said at the time that he believed adding the crosswalk would help meet “our goals of connectivity and pedestrian mobility” as well as address the safety of pedestrians trying to cross without a crosswalk.

According to the official minutes, Mayor Harry Rilling told Giolitto to email him the request and have the Traffic Department take a look at it. At the authority’s meeting in March, Mike Yeosock, assistant director of Transportation, Mobility and Parking, told the commissioners that “he does not recommend a crosswalk at this location.”

Giolitto brought the crosswalk back up at the April meeting and after that the city began looking into ways to put in some type of pedestrian hybrid beacon, such as a High-Intensity Activated Crosswalk Beacon, also known as a HAWK, which is a traffic control device used allow pedestrians to cross safely. The HAWK turns red when a pedestrian pushes the button to cross, which requires drivers to stop.

Hebert said that the city proposed this idea over a year ago, but would have to be farther down near the middle of the Green so it wouldn’t be too close to the Route 1 intersection.

“We originally did suggest to them over a year ago the HAWK signal, which would have gone in the middle of the green, but because the (Norwalk Town) Green is owned by the First Taxing District, we would have to get approval from them,” Hebert said.

Right now, Hebert said the city is looking into a “rectangular rapid flashing beacon” to be put at the St. Paul’s Place intersection.

“It would alert a driver that a pedestrian is crossing a street,” Hebert said. “We still have to take that proposal to the Traffic Authority before we could install anything.”

Ideally, the Norwalk Green Association and its members would like to pair up the crosswalks to promote pedestrian access in the area.

“Everyone has agreed that this is a pedestrian safety problem that needs to be solved,” Craighead said.

Craighead said the crosswalks fit into many of the city’s plans, including the new Plan of Conservation and Development and other goals like enhancing walkability.

Giolitto and Craighead also created a map to highlight the disparities from West Avenue, which has 13 crosswalks from I-95 to Route 1, compared to East Avenue, which has just four.

Giolitto said he and others would support whatever measure the city decides is best for that intersection, so long as it allows pedestrians to get across East Avenue.

Craighead wrote a letter to the city in March 2019, after gaining the Bike/Walk Commission’s support for a crosswalk there, asking them to consider funding the project.

“The Norwalk Green Association secured the endorsement of the Norwalk Bike / Walk Commission on March 4 and its key stakeholders recently met and agreed with others to support the project at the Parkhill Avenue location,” the letter read. “We believe that a safe crossing for pedestrians on East Avenue at the north end of the Green is a priority for the City of Norwalk and we greatly appreciate the City of Norwalk’s interest in completing this important project on behalf of its residents, religious & cultural institutions, and commercial enterprises.”

Hebert said that the city wants to examine all potential impacts from adding a crosswalk in the area, as well as making sure it’s safe.

“We want to make sure that whatever we install from an infrastructure view is safe,” she said. “It also requires some education and human behavior.”

Kelly Kultys is a city hall reporter with Norwalk Hour, covering all decisions and initiatives that affect residents across the city. Kelly comes to Connecticut from New Jersey, her home state, where she worked for almost three years at the Burlington County Times as an enterprise and education reporter. Kelly is a proud graduate of Fordham University.